http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...publishing-deal-Loving-The-Band-Movellas.html
And for once it's not erotica.
And for once it's not erotica.
Loving The Band, which Emily wrote while studying for her GCSEs, details an imagined relationship with a band based on the boys in 1D.
Has anyone read the original fanfic? I haven't, but y'know, might want to before deciding that it's crap. It did have a few readers, after all, and frankly, boy bands are pretty generic, right? So if teens are all over boy band stories...
I'm just saying it might actually be a case where the kid is a good writer with a large following, the subject matter is, in reality, generic, and so she ended up with what a lot of us want - a contract.
EL James paved the way for adult writers of fan fiction, proving (with Fifty Shades Of Grey) that posting your stories online is an excellent way to secure a publishing deal.
*starts my tally sheet of new writers coming on the board wanting to talk about self-publishing and writing fanfic to get noticed by publishers instead of through trade publishing routes of query/representation/sale*
*starts my tally sheet of new writers coming on the board wanting to talk about self-publishing and writing fanfic to get noticed by publishers instead of through trade publishing routes of query/representation/sale*
Or, and perhaps more frightening, fanfiction writers starting even more publishing houses to "help their friends get noticed" scrubbing their fanfic when no one involved has any experience in publishing...
Yes, there are all kinds of wrong messages that could be received by this. But, like self-publishing, each case needs to be looked at individually, and not as an indicator of a trend. When things like this stop making news, then we might consider it a "legitimate" route instead of the exception.
Does that mean that Movellas owned the story and now Penguin owns it?
And that the author was just commissioned to update the story?
[URL]http://www.movellas.com/blog/show/201202071118279797/terms-and-conditions[/URL] said:9.2 Your Intellectual Property Rights / Rights You License to Movellas
9.2.1 Movellas claims no ownership or control over any Content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through the Website. You or a third-party licensor, as appropriate, retain all patent, trademark and copyright to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Website and you are responsible for protecting those rights, as appropriate.
9.2.2 By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through Website, you grant Movellas a royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, transferable and fully sublicensable, non-exclusive, irrevocable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, incorporate into other works, distribute, perform, display, and otherwise exploit such Content, in whole or in part in any form, media or technology now known or later developed on the Website for the purpose of displaying and distributing the Service. You hereby waive any moral rights you may have in any Content submitted by you and you hereby grant each user of the Website a non-exclusive license to access the Content submitted by you through the Website. You understand and agree, however, that Movellas may retain, but not display, distribute, or perform, server copies of Content submitted by you that have been removed or deleted.
It's curious why Penguin is soliciting authors from fan fiction sites instead of their own trusted networks.
I'd imagine that Penguin is buying this ficcer's platform. It may also be buying her genuine passion for the subject and her authority as a real fan of the band. These things will have weight with the targeted readers, that is, other fans of the band.
Maybe Penguin has bought the boyz' identities, too. Or, at least, their carefully groomed public personas?
At a glance at their photo in the article, I saw the Smart/Snarky One, the Bad Boy, the Good Boy, the Poet and the Jock.
'After Penguin commissioned me we worked together to change quite a lot of it and turn it into a new book.
Meanwhile, Penguin's Razorbill imprint had been looking to commission a writer to pen a romantic young adult fictional novel that tapped into the market's current obsession with boy bands.
Will she own the rights? Is she writing on-spec? Does anyone have any idea what I'm trying to say? *flail*
So...what kind of business deal are we talking about?...
Will she own the rights? Is she writing on-spec? Does anyone have any idea what I'm trying to say? *flail*
Senior Fiction Editor, Lindsey Heaven, was browsing the site when she came across Emily's story, and felt the teenager was 'just the right kind of new talent to write such a novel with powerful emotion and authority'.
The publishers immediately acquired world rights from Movellas, who have since removed the story. She was commissioned by Penguin to update the story for publication.
I wondered about her use of "commissioned", but the quote from the article does make it appear that she's been hired to write Razorbill's story, although the rewriting of hers makes it a little murky.
Someone's brilliant. But I have a sinking feeling the author is going to get shafted badly.